


Warm Of Day/Cold Of Night

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-03
Updated: 2002-02-03
Packaged: 2019-05-15 13:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	Warm Of Day/Cold Of Night

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

Title: Warm of day/Cold of night   
Author: Toni Harrison   
Rating: General with a touch of PG towards the end   
Spoilers: The whole of season 2 only not really any spoilers as such for any episode.   
Pairings: Sam/Ainsley with a dash of Josh and Donna.   
Summary: A bit like a cup of Warm and fluffy Cappuccino to begin with but who knows by the end!   
Archive:Definitely...just let me know.   
Feedback: Definitely, consumed and really appreciated as ever. Be it positive or not..I can take it :) Thanks ever so for reading!

Finally as ever, a massive thankyou to Charlotte for her amazing, generous and honest beta. Also a big big thankyou to Grace too for her encouragement and feedback. You're both the best. It's thanks to you that a rough looking fic ends up looking not too bad. THANKYOU!

\---------------

She had been sitting in exactly the same position for the last three hours. She knew if she stood up, she would fall down from the cramps in her feet and the unreal feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't begin to comprehend yet how she had to come this place. It was too soon. For now she wanted to think back to clearer and happier times.

\--- 

She and Sam had been together for six months now. They were good together, despite the ups and downs in their fledgling relationship as a result of the highly competitive environment they'd built it in. The good times definitely outweighed the bad, though, and the old feelings of loneliness and inadequacy had long since disappeared.

The reaction from Sam's friends - now hers too, - had been a revelation to her, although Sam hadn't seemed surprised. Toby was caught off guard and a little bemused but the approving nods and half smiles he gave her from time to time told more than a thousand words could.

CJ had given her beloved Spanky a hug and told him not to screw up this time, to forget being the sweet gentleman he was apparently so determined to be. Josh made a wisecrack and had smiled warmly at her, before looking wistfully out of the door of his office. To what, Ainsley wasn't sure, but she suspected he wasn't waiting for the budget forecast to come and sweep him off his feet. Leo seemed simply relieved that Sam had finally found a stable relationship that would not create problems or bad publicity for their party.

They'd tried to keep a professional distance at work, but the longing to see each other led to Sam finding all sorts of reasons why he needed legal advice relating to the latest speech he and Toby had just composed. The first place Bonnie and Ginger ever phoned if they couldn't find Sam was the steampipe trunk distribution venue, with good reason. So far, though, they hadn't done anything more outrageous than lightly touch each other and once their lips had brushed against each others. For them both, just being in each other's company was good enough and she loved the way he always thought of her. The time that sprang to mind most was when she'd been working late and he'd brought up a doughnut, a chocolate chip muffin and had gone to the store three blocks away just to get her favourite can of Fresca. The smallest gesture but it showed how much he thought of her.

They could talk for hours, and frequently did, spending the whole night together and arriving in the West Wing the next morning utterly exhausted. Yet somehow, the only thing it took to make her feel energised once more was a simply funny email or a glimpse of his face. They covered everything in lose long, late night sessions, with one exception. Sam couln't bring himself to talk about Lisa. Ainsley knew he'd eventually be able to tel her about it, but she could wait until he was ready. Her own relationships were recounted quickly, in little depth. They just didn't seem that important, now. She felt differently about Sam.

\--- 

A clatter from nearby disturbed her from her thoughts and once again she looked around her at the other people in the room. No-one looked at each other, people instead staring down at their feet. she supposed that was the way these places made you feel. Cold, alone and not of this earth. She looked out through the window and began to think of just 14 days earlier which seemed like a lifetime ago.

\---

She'd taken Sam to North Carolina to visit her family. Sam had spent the entire journey talking constantly, even more than she ever could. If only she'd taken a dictophone she'd have been able to make sure that Sam would never again mimic her incessant chatter. It was obvious he was nervous as a kitten being chased by a dog being chased by the biggest prairie wold in the land of hoolalia's. She'd tried to reassure him he wouldn't be eaten alive by her parents, pointing out they were a Republican family who could tell who was right for their baby, and he would be it. But she couldn't ignore the churning feeling in her stomach, and instead of being comforting, everything she said came out as gibberish.

The evening had started off badly when the car Sam had hired, but hadn't quite mastered yet, collided loudly with a disgusting yet precious plant holder her mom had put in the driveway. As she prayed that her mother wouldn't hear, Ainsley saw her look out of the window and come rushing from the house, completely ignoring her daughter and the young man with her to instead fall to her knees, sniffling loudly whilst picking up the shattered pieces of the plant pot. As Sam hurriedly bent down to help her, the ever melodramatic Grace Hayes picked up the two largest pieces of her broken plant holder and shuffled - she never ran, it wasn't quite the way of a woman of her time - into the house, sniffling even more loudly now.

Sam looked at Ainsley with a look in his eyes that clearly signalled his best plan now would be to get straight back into the car and drive back home as quickly as possible. She smiled confidently and encouragingly at him and moved towards her father who until now had been quiet and seemingly brewing for another Billy Hayes tantrum. Instead, as she moved towards him she saw him shaking with something that looked like laughter. He moved straight past her, reaching out a hand to slap Sam on the back and invited him into the house. Completely ignoring his precious daughter, he confessed conspiratorially that he'd tried to 'accidentally' collide with the damn thing for the last   
twenty years.

Two hours later, after Billy had calmed Grace down and she'd come downstairs to share the meal they had prepared, Ainsley looked around her and pronounced to herself how happy she was with the way the evening had gone. On one occasion the subject had moved onto politics and there had been a slight flash in both men's eyes, but Grace swiftly moved the onto safer territory. Sam's easy manners and obvious love for their daughter had seemingly won them over and as Ainsley was about to leave her father had whispered in her ear that he would do 'for one of them'. Praise indeed, she thought with a smile, and she was delighted. Her mother's face had glowed, and she could see her mother already thinking of her only daughter walking down the aisle of the grandest church in North Carolina or even at the most stately cathedral in Washington. That was for another day and another conversation. For now she was ecstatic. But the thrills weren't over...

\---

Still the noise goes around around her, still she sits in the same place now absent mindedly fingering a styrofoam cup of cold coffee someone has handed her. Distantly she can hear her stomach complaning of a hunger long since forgotten as she thinks back to the days in New York.

\---

It had been a total surprise, she remembered. She had fallen asleep while Sam took his turn driving, and was still half asleep when she realised Sam had turned off at the New Jersey Turnpike and they were heading for the bright, exciting lights of Manhattan. She had looked over at Sam with an expression of incredulity and delight. She'd been to New York only twice before. Once, with a friend when she had been 17, and had spent the entire holiday in clothes shops and staring at all the beautiful people walking by. The second time had been spent at an interview for a job she knew she would never get and wasn't sure she really wanted, and she'd spent 4 hours in New York. This time with Sam was so different, she saw the romance and splendour of this great city.

For three days, they walked block after block and saw every site imaginable.They stood at the top of the Empire State Building at night with Sam hugging her, keeping her warm in the cold. They took an open top bus tour and ate at delis on street corners, visited the Bronx zoo where she playfully compared Sam to the big scary bear and went on to compare every other staffer with one animal or another. Sam knew he would never look Babish in the eye ever again after Ainsley pointed out the striking resemblance to a sloth, and then they went rollerblading in Central Park. It had been the most incredible time of her life and she could hardly believe the change in herself or the energy, confidence and happiness Sam filled her with.

Sam had, after Ainsley repeatedly pointed out the obvious signs, begun to see that the sparks that flew between Josh and Donna were based on an underlying desire for one another that only people who had been in that same position could actually appreciate. So, being Sam, he furiously began planning a way of bringing them together. This was a side of Sam that Ainsley adored, the fact that if he was happy, he had a childlike desire to ensure everyone else was too. It was she knew one of the reasons he was so good at his job, his idealism, even though now tainted, was still a beacon of light.

Sam planned that on the usual night at the bar the following week, he would say that he and Ainsley had plans with another couple at a nearby restaurant and so they would have to cut the night short, the 'friends' would then cancel on them and rather than cancel the meal that they had been looking forward to so much, would anyone else want to go. Josh instantly agreed, as Sam knew he would, as did CJ. Ainsley caught a flash in Donna's eyes at that point and announced in a way that only Ainsley could that she felt it only fair that Josh pay for Donna to go for a meal as any halfway average boss would. Donna's face changed from its natural alabaster shade to one of bright pink and Josh half laughed before saying in all seriousness that it would be his pleasure to take her out. CJ, who had been about to protest, saw the look that passed between Donna and Josh and, after glancing briefly at Ainsley, clamped her mouth firmly shut

The meal, and the night, had been a glorious success no doubt improved by all their earlier drinks. They laughed about Josh's greatest moments - his words, not Donna's, or anyone's on that table for that matter - and remembered the days before the campaign trail and before any of them knew what a man called Josiah Bartlet would come to mean to them. They laughed at Ainsley's obsession with food which had reached a climax with her request for a double chocolate and vanilla muffin topped with hazelnuts, whipped real cream and strawberries as a side, and then asking for another look at the dessert menu.

They had left the restaurant at around 1am, laughing lightly as they walked along the sidewalks, all four of them arm in arm like school friends walking across a playing field. They hadn't noticed anyone around them; the four of them felt they were the only people in DC at that moment and they couldn't have been happier. The man had come up to them and muttered something completely incomprehensible at which Josh had joked that he couldn't quite believe that there was anyone quite so drunk as them that night and he told the guy to go take a happy pill.

The man followed them down the sidewalk, shouting obscenities loudly. They ignored him, and still laughing they carried on walking, until the man was right next to them again, shouting in their faces. Ainsley and Donna moved back, involuntarily blinking at the smell of the man's breath and looking at the bottle he barely held onto in his hand. He stood in front of Josh, and halfheartedly demanded money, but Josh stepped around him. A mixture of the alcohol, carelessness and a cracked paving stone caused him to stumble against him. The man tripped and fell, smashing the bottle on the ground.

Sam turned, bending down to pick the man up, ever the gentleman. Ainsley heard a slight gasp and turned round as she realised the sound came from Sam but as he and the man stood up, the man grumbled and shuffled away. Sam moved towards her, and everything seemed fine. Sam took two more steps and stopped, looking slightly uncomfortable, Josh muttered about drunkards and laughed, linking his arm companionably with Donna, and shouting for Ainsley and Sam to hurry as he had a couple of bottles at home for them to drink.

Ainsley turned round to reach for Sam, to see him stumble slightly and his gait shift from being stable to him falling toward the sidewalk. An alarm set off in her head and the panic began before she had even leaned down to Sam's level on the ground. She called his name gently and got no response. She said it again more loudly and more forcefully, turning his face towards her. She could see in his eyes that tears were appearing and his face had a clammy, cold feel as though he was in shock.

As she asked him what was wrong and he didn't reply she desperately tried to remember the basics of her first aid training and gently explored up and down his body for any signs of injury. Initially there was nothing, and as she began to say to Sam that he'd better stop acting and he sure as doughnuts would pay for drinking so much, Donna and Josh realised there was no longer the sound of footsteps behind them and turned round. They moved slowly, but then faster at the look of concern on Ainsley's face. As they reached them, Josh relaxed on hearing Ainsley chastise Sam for his drunken behaviour, thinking how he would make Sam suffer the next morning. He wasn't the only who couldn't take his drink. 

Sam still hadn't said a word and half lay, half sat on the sidewalk staring with seemingly great intent at the road markings. Ainsley failed to lift Sam up from the ground by herself, Donna and Josh swiftly moving to pick him up, Josh from behind, Donna and Ainsley with one arm each. Josh felt something catch his finger, something sharp, something that instantly drew blood. He looked in confusion at his finger, wondering where it could have come from. He went cold as he saw Sam stumble into Ainsley, knocking them over on the sidewalk. He heard himself shouting at Donna to call 911 immediately, moving hurriedly to Sam's side.

Carefully removing Sam's overcoat, Josh instinctively recoiled from Sam's side as he saw the jagged edge of a large piece of glass in the side of this man, his closest friend. Without thinking, he moved to fold the coat to use as a pillow and put under his now unconscious friend's head. He could hear Ainsley's voice from far away, calling Sam to wake up. Her voice broke with tears as she begged him to hold on til the medics arrived. Josh felt Donna's hand on his shoulder, and felt the strength it somehow gave him.

\---

She blinked and started as the door opened, looking up expectantly for the person who had come into the room. She saw it was Leo coming back into the room with a coffee and an expression so sad, beaten and tired. She looked around the room at the other people, at Toby staring dully, seemingly emotionless, into space and at CJ, eyes redrimmed with tears and no doubt tiredness. She looked at Donna who had rested her head on Josh's shoulder while Josh fidgeted and occasionally muttered something only he could hear and understand. Every time they heard an unfamiliar noise they all seemed to start, and then look back at the floor intently, as though it told them the reasons for all the things that had happened to them and they asked; why this? Why did this have to happen now?

\---

She heard the sound of running footsteps moments before she looked up again and tried to smile as she saw the familiar face of Ron Butterfield moving into the small room with authority. She tried to stand as she heard the President talk quietly and step into the room with his wife, Dr Bartlet. She forgot momentarily about the cramps but as soon as she stood she felt herself sway before a pair of strong hands grabbed her waist and supported her. She heard Leo whisper something supportive in her ear and told herself to remember to thank him later. Somehow even the sight of the most powerful man in the country could not ease her trembling and increasing sense of panic.

As the President moved towards Leo and shook hands, Dr Bartlet smiled gently, reassuringly to Josh as she lightly touched his hand before approaching Ainsley. She heard the First Lady say to them all that she would go and enquire about Sam. Another set of purposeful footsteps reached the doorway and Ainsley gasped involuntarily as she saw the face of the two surgeons who had spent the last 5 hours working on the man that she, and all of the people gathered about her, cared about so deeply. Her heart missed several beats as she waited for them to speak.

The older surgeon spoke first in a calm yet sad voice. 'May we speak with Mr Seaborn's next of kin please?'

She heard the almost alien sounding cry of terror and pain long before she realised it came from her and just as she crumbled to the ground. 

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
